Despite The Rain, We're Still In A Drought
BOSTON (CBS) - Hard to believe after the drenching rainfall from last weekend that a drought still exists in southern New England.
But, that is exactly the news that came out Thursday morning from the U.S. Drought Monitor .
Check: Current Conditions | Weather Map Center | Interactive Radar
Our drought is considered to be a "short term moderate to severe drought."
While the coverage area for the "severe" area shrunk a bit since last week, there is still a significant portion of eastern Massachusetts and Connecticut which is considered to be at level 3 of 5 in severity.
Last weekend's rain certainly put a dent in the drought, most areas received between 2-3.5 inches of water.
But to climb out of a severe drought you really need several successive, significant rain events and unfortunately there are no more of those in sight for a while.
Our rivers and ground water levels, which were at historic low levels for April, responded quickly and sharply to the soaking earlier this week but are already falling off again without any follow up precipitation.
Thankfully, our reservoir levels remain near normal due to a very wet 2011.
Exacerbating the drought now are all the plants and trees coming into bloom, drinking up all available water and looking for more.
Normally by late April, Boston has received more than 14 inches of water.
This year's total so far: just under 8 inches, nearly half the "normal."
A look into the longer range doesn't bring much hope either.
The Climate Prediction Center's 8-14 day forecast shows a high probability of below normal precipitation for all of New England.
So the bottom line - we need rain, sooner rather than later.
The closer we get to summer with no additional significant rainfall, the more likely that conditions will become more extreme and water bans and restrictions will be put in place.
You can follow Terry on Twitter at @TerryWBZ.
